By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University men's basketball is back in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight for the first time since 2001 and will continue its national championship bid with a quarterfinal matchup against Lenoir-Rhyne at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in Evansville, Ind.
Brett Ballard's Washburn Ichabods will take a 29-3 record into Tuesday's national quarterfinal game. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods are making their fourth trip to the NCAA Elite Eight, joining the 1993, 1994 and 2001 Washburn squads.
Washburn (29-3) advanced to the Elite Eight with a 93-65 win over Minnesota State-Moorhead last Tuesday in the Central Region final in Lee Arena, capping a dominant regional performance that also included wins over Harding (85-57) and Concordia-St. Paul (94-78).
The Ichabods have had a full week off since the win over Minnesota State-Moorhead and Washburn coach Brett Ballard said the team's major focus has been on maintaining its sharpness heading into the Elite Eight.
"Keeping our edge is the biggest thing,'' said Ballard, who has led the Ichabods to five NCAA postseason appearances in eight seasons. "I want us to keep our edge.
"I thought going into the regional coming off a loss we had some really competitive practices and I thought we got better. I really want our guys to keep that edge this week. We're not going to overdo it and we'll take care of their bodies, but when we do get (on the floor) I want it to be competitive and at high intensity.''
Lenoir-Rhyne, 29-5 and winner of its last nine games, defeated North Carolina-Pembroke 76-74 in overtime to advance to its first Elite Eight in program history.
The Ichabods enter the Elite Eight as the No. 4 seed while Lenoir-Rhyne of the South Athletic Conference is the No. 5 seed.
MIAA regular-season champion Washburn's 29 wins are tied for second on the Ichabod single-season chart. WU's single-season record for wins in a season is 35 when the Ichabods won the NAIA National Championship in 1987.
The Ichabods recorded a program-best 17 wins during the MIAA season this year and have been in the top five in the national rankings for 16 straight weeks for the first time in program history.
Washburn has already posted a 10-win improvement over its 2023-24 season (19-11) while Ballard is one win away from his 200th career victory as a head coach (199-111).
The Ichabods recorded their 1,700th all-time program win against Rogers State earlier this season. The Ichabods were the seventh NCAA D-II program to reach the 1,700-win mark.
WU senior Andrew Orr is currently No. 12 on Washburn's career scoring list with 1,338 points and is just four points behind Ron Berkholtz, who scored 1,342 points from 1965-69, for the No. 11 spot.
Orr is 10th in the nation in field goal percentage at 64.4, leading the MIAA.
Senior Michael Keegan went over the 1,000-point mark in his Washburn career against Harding in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament and now has 1,007 points, becoming the 29th member of the Ichabod 1,000 point club.
Keegan is third on the WU career blocks chart with 104 and is also second all-time in steals with 164 and went over the 200-assist mark earlier this season. Keegan is now the second Ichabod to have at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 blocks, 100 steals and 100 assists, joining only Ewan Auguste. He is also now the third member of the Ichabod 1,000 point/100 block list, joining Auguste and Brady Skeens.
Sophomore Jack Bachelor, a Washburn Rural product, is 11th in the nation and leads the MIAA in assist to turnover radio at 3.02 and he is 10th in total assists at 178 and 16th in assists per game with 5.6.
Senior Jacob Hanna is 14th in the nation in free throws made with 174 and sixth in attempts with 242, leading the MIAA.
Sophomore Brayden Shorter is sixth in the nation in 3-pointers per game at 3.53 and he's ranked second in total 3-pointers made at 113, which is tied for first on the Ichabod overall single-season chart with Maurice Lamar (113 in 1991-92).
Ziare Wells leads Lenoir-Rhyne in scoring at 16.8 points per game while adding 5.6 rebounds.
Wells leads five Bears in double-figure scoring, followed by Hantz Louis-Jeune (13.4), regional MVP Conrad Luczynski (12.3), Tay Smith (12.0) and Julian Dozier (11.7).
The Bears are averaging 87.4 points while allowing 79.1 points.
The winner of the Ichabod-Bears game will face the winner of the No. 1 Nova Southeastern vs. No. 8 Assumption game in the national semifinals on Thursday at 8:30 p.m.
"They're all good teams,'' Ballard said about the Elite Eight field. "You win your region -- any region at any spot -- means you've had a good year.''
